1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cigarette dispenser for stocking cigarettes of different brands and dispensing them selectively in the lighted condition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,144,170 an article dispenser is known comprising a magazine formed from an assembly of open bottom compartments which each receive a pile of articles capable of being dispensed by gravity through the bottom of the compartments. Each compartment is parallelepipedic and comprises two opposite vertical longitudinal side walls one of which is mounted for pivoting about a horizontal axis passing through its upper edge, so as to be able to move away from the other longitudinal side which is fixed. The pivoting wall has at its lower edge a shoulder extending inwardly of the compartment for retaining the whole pile of articles. With each compartment is associated a retaining element in the form of a horizontal loop disposed in the gap between two adjacent compartments, said loop being movable in its plane through an opening formed in the lower part of the fixed longitudinal wall of the compartment for engagement under the article situated above the lowest article in the pile. The longitudinal pivoting wall and the loop shaped element are interlocked in movement so that when they are moved away from their normal position, the lower article of the pile falls onto a receiving belt whereas the rest of the articles are retained by the looped shaped element.
Such a dispenser has several drawbacks. First of all, each compartment must be separated from the adjacent one by the width of the loop shaped element, which results in waste of space for storing articles. In addition, once the lower article has been released, means must be provided for conveying it to the front wall of the dispenser where it will be accessible to the user. This dispenser requires then two manual operations: one for releasing an article and one for bringing it within reach of the user. Furthermore, when it is a question of dispensing elongate articles, such as cigarettes, they are presented to the user parallel to the front wall of the dispenser which is a position in which it cannot be readily picked up. Finally, this dispenser, despite its lack of automation, is of complicated and space consuming construction, the use thereof for dispensing cigarettes is not advisable in a motor vehicle since the two above mentioned operations as well as that for lighting the dispensed cigarette lead to a relaxation of the visual attention and manual control of the driver.
From French patent 1 483 895 a dispenser is known for lighted cigarettes but which has no automation and which can only dispense a single brand of cigarettes.
The aim of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of the dispensers disclosed in these patents and therefore provide an entirely automatic dispenser which, with a single control operation, dispenses a cigarette of the brand chosen by the smoker and provides it lighted.